Dramatic CCTV shows drunk driver smashing into Prime Minister’s Chequers estate

A drunk driver who caused nearly £40,000 worth of damage by crashing into the Prime Minister’s Chequers estate has been jailed for more than two and a half years.

Matthew Wootten, 44, was nearly three times over the limit when he steered his Volkswagen Scirocco towards the Victory Gate at the country residence’s entrance on June 25.

CCTV footage shows the white car smashing through it at speed, crumpling the bonnet as wood panels fly into the driveway.

Several cans of alcohol were later found inside the crumpled car, Reading Crown Court was told.

Rishi Sunak was prime minister at the time of the incident in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, on June 25 this year, shortly before the general election.

The crash caused over £38,000 worth of damage and Wootten seriously injured himself.

Wootten pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, damaging property while reckless as to whether life is endangered and driving a motor vehicle when above the alcohol limit.

He was jailed for 32 months and banned from the roads for 40 months.

Passerby Ian Longthorne was enjoying a day off visiting a friend who was showing him the entrance to the manor house when he stumbled across the crash.

‘We’d gone for a walk and stopped at a nearby pub,’ the 54-year-old said.

‘We saw an ambulance car, a fire engine and then an unmarked police car go past, but didn’t think much of it.

‘We carried on with our walk and my friend showed me a public path that goes through Chequers where you can look back to the entrance.

‘We could see the car and I took a couple of shots from there, before I left and took some from outside the front entrance.

‘It’s always a shock to see a crash and this was one was quite an unusual one.’

Celia Mardon, a Senior Crown Prosecutor with CPS Thames and Chiltern, said: ‘CCTV footage showed that Wootten intentionally drove at speed towards the gates of the Chequers estate.

‘The strength of this evidence, along with a significantly high alcohol blood reading, gave him little choice but to admit his guilt to the charges we authorised against him.

‘Not only did Wootten cause significant damage to the Victory Gate, but he could also have put the lives of others at risk with his reckless driving.’

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